Indy Ethanol Event

Cindy Zimmerman

Indy Car SeriesEKansas City consumers can follow in the footsteps of the IndyCar® Series and make a choice at the pump for energy independence and cleaner air. E10, a blend of 90 percent gasoline and 10 percent ethanol, will be available for $2.14, the average qualifying speed for the Indy 300 at Kansas Speedway, on Thursday at two locations in the greater Kansas City metropolitan area and #17 Team Ethanol Driver Jeff Simmons will be signing autographs.

Simmons and the Team Ethanol car finished in 8th place at the Twin Ring Motegi this past weekend in Japan, his best finish so far this season. Tony Kaanan won that race. The next race is the Kansas Lottery 300 this Sunday at the Kansas Speedway.

EPIC, Ethanol, Indy Racing, News

Ethanol Conference Celebrates 20 Years

Cindy Zimmerman

AceThe American Coalition for Ethanolhas announced the agenda for its upcoming Ethanol Conference & Trade Show to be held this summer in Minnesota.

The 2007 Ethanol Conference, the organization’s 20th annual, will take place August 7-9 at the River Centre in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The conference, which is hosted in a different Midwestern city each year, is expected to be ACE’s largest event. Nearly 1600 people attended last year’s conference in Kansas City, up from 1000 the previous year, and an even larger record crowd is anticipated this year due to the larger venue and the continually increasing interest in ethanol. A sold-out trade show will provide attendees the opportunity to network with 191 companies filling more than 230 exhibit spaces, ACE’s largest show to date.

Early sign-up is strongly encouraged due to the tremendous interest expected in the conference. Conference registration and other information is available on-line.

conferences, Ethanol, News

Ethanol and the EPA

Cindy Zimmerman

e-podcast EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson calls the nation’s first comprehensive Renewable Fuels Standard, or RFS, “a hat trick – it protects the environment, strengthens our energy security, and supports America’s farmers.”

Ethanol Promotion and Information Council Executive Director Tom Slunecka comments on the new RFS and EPA ruling that provides equal treatment for ethanol plants when it comes to emissions – and how both can work together to help us fill up and feel good about helping the environment.

The “Fill up, Feel Good” podcast is available to download by subscription (see our sidebar link) or you can listen to it by clicking here. (5:00 MP3 File)

The Fill Up, Feel Good theme music is “Tribute to Joe Satriani” by Alan Renkl, thanks to the Podsafe Music Network.

“Fill up, Feel Good” is sponsored by the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Audio, EPIC, Ethanol, Fill Up Feel Good, Flex Fuel Vehicles, Government, News

New Biodiesel Plant in Cleveland

John Davis

A new biodiesel refinery will open in downtown Cleveland in two weeks, and according to this article in the CantonRep.com, they’ll use soybean oil to make the biodiesel:

Center Alternative Energy, a subsidiary of St. Louis-based Center Oil Co., will produce the biodiesel fuel in a storage terminal along the Cuyahoga River near downtown, refining soybean oil and blending it with traditional petroleum-based diesel, [John Samsel, president of Center Alternative Energy Co] said.

And it looks like the refinery is coming none too soon:

The city of Cleveland will use a 5 percent biodiesel blend in 10 to 15 percent of its diesel fleet starting May 1, said Andrew Watterson, Cleveland’s sustainability manager. A six-month monitoring program will test emissions and engine performance in 15 of those vehicles.

Officials say Cleveland was picked because of its access to rail lines, ports on Lake Erie, and the large customer base in that part of Ohio.

Biodiesel

Crow Wraps Up Stop Global Warming Tour

John Davis

Crow and bus
Singer Sheryl Crow and environmentalist Laurie David (in the center of the picture above) wrapped up their nationwide tour in a biodiesel bus at a stop in Washington, DC today, Earth Day. The Washington Post featured some posts from Crow’s and David’s blogs along the way on the Stop Global Warming College Tour:

David (4/10, Dallas): I am jogging outside in 40 degree freezing cold . . . 70 degrees in January and 40 degrees in April. That is exactly why Sheryl Crow and I are in a biodiesel bus going thru the Southeast visiting college campuses to talk about the urgency of this issue and how everyone . . . everyone . . . has to start doing something. I would write more, but I have to go run warm water over my hands and thaw out from my run.

The actual blog posts are a little tough to find but this web site StopGlobalWarming.org is a good start.

Biodiesel

First 100% Biodiesel Tractors in UK

John Davis

New Holland tractorsFour New Holland tractors are the first tractors that run on 100% biodiesel to arrive in the United Kingdom to work at Cornwall’s Eden Project, “an environmentally-focused attraction all about man’s relationship with plants and the environment.”

According to this story in the Farmers Guardian, not only will the tractors be good for the environment, they’ll be good for the local economy:

The four New Holland machines will emit 70 per cent less carbon dioxide than the ones they replace. They will also cut carbon monoxide emissions by half, particulates by 70 per cent and hydrocarbons by 40 per cent.

The hope is the 20 litres of fuel each tractor requires daily will be supplied by local oilseed rape growers.

Eden’s Gus Grand said: “The environmental benefits of the tractors are not solely due to the fuel. The engines are more efficient than our old ones. With these new tractors we are trying to drive people’s interest in green motoring forward. If we can do it, so can others.”

The article goes on to say if this test is successful, expansion of the idea could be part of what helps the UK achieve its 5% Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation by 2010.

Biodiesel, International

Dems Also Irked Over Conoco/Tyson Biodiesel Plans

John Davis

This week, we’ve heard a lot of talk about a change in Internal Revenue Service policy that will allow big oil companies to cash in on a $1-a-gallon tax credit originally intended to help the biodiesel industry off the ground (see my posts on April 16th & April 18th). The National Biodiesel Board has blasted the IRS for the change, and now some key Democrats in the U.S. Congress are vowing to change things back.

This article on Bloomberg.com tells more:

Rep. Lloyd Doggett“There appears to be abuse that demands legislative correction,” said Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett, who is drafting a measure to overturn the IRS rule with Representative John Larson of Connecticut. Senator Maria Cantwell, a Washington Democrat, said yesterday during a Finance Committee hearing that the companies tried to “go around” Congress and that the tax credit needs to be “re-examined.”

Doggett, a senior member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, said he may introduce his bill as early as today. Cantwell, a member of the Senate Finance Committee, is still drafting hers.

Opponents of extending the credit to the oil companies point out that this could force the other biodiesel ventures out of business.

Biodiesel, Government, Legislation

Purely POET

Cindy Zimmerman

The company formally known as Broin has officially completed the name changing of all its ethanol production facilities.

Poet POET, formerly known as Broin Companies, announced today that all 26 of its ethanol production facilities have changed their name to POET Biorefining. With the addition of the plants, the 32 entities that made up the Broin Companies are now united under the POET brand as the largest dry-mill ethanol producer in the country.

POET President & CEO Jeff Broin said the change will strengthen their communications and more clearly represent their position in the ethanol industry. “The 32 entities that comprise POET have always operated as one,” said Broin. “Now that we are operating under the same name, the strength of our team will be unmistakable.”

POET has one plant opening next month in Corning, Iowa and another seven currently under construction.

A blog on product names, called the Name Wire, did a recent post about Broin’s name change to POET asking readers to vote on whether they like it or not. Rural Iowa commentator Chuck Offenburger also gave his poetic opinion. So far, POET is getting rave reviews.

Ethanol, Facilities, News

Obama Calls for Low Carbon Fuels

Cindy Zimmerman

ObamaOn the campaign trail in New Hampshire on Friday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) called for a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard (NLCFS) similar to one created in California earlier this year by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

According to a news release, Obama’s proposal would require that all transportation fuels sold in the U.S. contain 5 percent less carbon by 2015 and 10 percent less carbon by 2020. The NCLFS would also create an incentive for the production of more flexible-fuel vehicles that can run on ethanol and more plug-in hybrid vehicles that run on electricity.

“It will take a grassroots effort to make America greener and end the tyranny of oil. This Earth Day should mark the beginning of a nationwide effort to harness our technology, our ingenuity and our will to achieve energy independence in our time,” Obama said.

Biodiesel, Ethanol, Government, News

Gulf Ethanol Expansion

Cindy Zimmerman

Gulf Gulf Ethanol is expanding its search for plant sites throughout the Texas and Louisiana coastal region.

According to a company release, Gulf Ethanol has a non-binding letter of intent to purchase an existing manufacturing facility in Bayport, Texas from Clean-Fuel International Corp., and is actively evaluating additional sites for the processing and production of ethanol and other biofuels.

“We feel there is an exceptional opportunity to grow a production and processing capacity along the gulf coast. The majority of America’s ethanol production is currently in the corn belt,” noted JT Cloud, Gulf’s President. “We see ample opportunity to expand processing and production to the heavily populated south. We expect to use fuel stocks grown in Texas and Louisiana as well as considering the importation of raw sugars from Brazil and other South American countries,” he added.

Ethanol, Facilities, News